I received an email from City Hall, announcing ‘The Campaign Against Signs on Public Property’. Great, I thought. Maybe those kabillions of John Georges campaign signs that littered St Claude Avenue during the race for mayor are a thing of the past. Maybe the endless supply of coroplast signs, a non-biodegradable plastic material, in our landfills, would come to a timely end. Maybe those kids who Georges paid (by financing their sports teams) to stand in the street, waving his signs & shouting at cars, would find something better to do than block traffic in the name of Another Rich Guy Who Wants To Be Elected To Something.
Then the patter began to rise about band & gallery fliers.
The email from City Hall reads:“We are mindful that cultural businesses may host musical groups, have gallery openings or other such events that require advertising. However, the law requires that you keep signs off of public property and do not distribute fliers on public streets and sidewalks.”
There’s various opinions about this, of course, including the belief that this will seriously hurt New Orleans performing musicians. I don’t personally subscribe to this one, as the only time I’ve attended a ‘fliered’ show, it was so packed I couldn’t get inside. I think it more notable that music licenses are so often withheld in the City Where Jazz Was Born. I imagine no end to the attendances that might be seen, should the music be allowed to play in the first place.
Then there’s the opinion that these fliers are legitimate art, and deserve a place in our society. This same argument was used regarding tagging graffiti, and begs the question of who decides what ‘street art’ can be posted, by the local artists or the Klan, or Koch brothers.
Again, the struggle to see & be seen in the world of art & entertainment is the battle all artists, be it on paper or in music, must face. Somehow, covering telephone poles with bits of paper doesn’t seem to be an egress into that world, either.
(via NOLA Rising)
Required reading vis-a-vis City Hall’s fight on street art, as opposed to a fight on crime, or murder, perhaps. PRIORITIES, Y’ALL!
Also mentioned, (friend of this Tumblr) Rex of NOLA Rising, the Grey Ghost, the arts and crafts sale raided by NOPD like something out of The Wire.
Brian-Michel is/est:
